It’s been a while since we posted some polar bear footage that we captured this past autumn up in Churchill on our Tundra Buggy adventures. So, we decided to have some fun and put together a little video to celebrate the end of the work week.
We hope you enjoy and have a great weekend!
In little over a week we will be exhibiting at our very first consumer travel show of 2010. Every year we look forward to visiting some of our favourite cities and markets to chat with consumers and members of the travel trade to better educate them on why we are the best company to travel with to experience amazing wildlife viewing in Canada’s North!
Our first show will be on February 13 & 14 at the LA Times Travel & Adventure Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center. From there we travel to Reno, Nevada and will be a featured exhibitor and guest lecturer at the North American Nature Photography Association’s (NANPA) Nature Photography Summit on February 16 – 18.
After our little stint on the West Coast, we will then hop a plane and head to the East Coast where we will be exhibiting for the first time at the Boston Globe Travel Show on February 19 – 21, and then onto the “Big Apple” to participate in the New York Times Travel Show on February 16 – 28.
Finally, our consumer show season comes to a close in Chicago at the Chicago Tribune Travel & Adventure Show on March 20 & 21.
Please come and visit us at any of these fantastic travel shows if you will be in the area!
Dave Daley can now say he has!
For those who haven’t had the great pleasure of meeting Dave, he is the owner of Churchill-based Wapusk Adventures, a family-run dog sledding company. Dave and his authentic dogsledding adventures in the boreal forest is a favourite of our Polar Bears in Churchill guests. This past month, Dave kicked off 2010 by travelling 1,200 kilometres with his team of sled dogs from Churchill to Winnipeg to raise awareness for Manitoba Homecoming, a year long celebration that will bring former Manitobans back to the province to participate in festivals and events.
Dave, along with four Canadian Rangers, began his journey from Churchill on Sunday, January 3 and arrived at The Forks in Winnipeg on Saturday, January 23.
These images were captured on Dave’s last leg of the run between St Laurent, Manitoba and Winnipeg as he drove the sled dogs down Asssiniboine river to The Forks.
All images © Jerry Anderson
In 2008, along with PBI we had the opportunity to host Nat and Alex Wolff of the Nat & Alex Wolff Band (formerly the Naked Brothers Band) at Cape Churchill. While at the Cape, the brothers filmed a few informative videos where they interviewed such heavyweights in the polar bear research community as Dr. Ian Stirling and Steven Amstrup.
Here is Alex Wolff and his interview with the “Godfather of Polar Bears”, Dr. Stirling from a Tundra Buggy at Cape Churchill where they discuss polar bear tagging, the issues of climate change in the North, and his experience in a polar bear den.
Photographer Michelle Valberg travelled to Churchill and captured some amazing polar bear and other arctic wildlife images that were recently featured in the Ottawa Citizen.
Michelle was fortunate to see over 54 polar bears in one day. In total, she snapped 6,140 photos on her trip for a book she’s working on entitled ‘The Land & Life of the Inuit … Through the Generations.’ Proceeds from this book will be donated to aid literacy and fitness and recreation for Inuit children.
Here are some of her images. To view her story in the Ottawa Citizen and more photos, click here.
We suppose it’s a sign of the times. We’ve got it on very good authority that cell service will be unrolled in Churchill on April 1st, 2010.
We’re not sure how we feel about this. If service reaches into the Churchill Wildlife Management Area, where most of our Tundra Buggy adventuring occurs, there are at least two potential outcomes:
1) We may better fulfill our guests’ expectations of available services at a tourism destination, or
2) We may negatively impact the integrity of our adventure tourism product.
Again, we’re not sure how we feel about cell phones ringing in the background while a guest first locks their gaze with a polar bear…
With upwards of 10,000 international guests visiting the community of 800 people on an annual basis, whichever way you slice it, MTS is going to make a mountain in roaming charges. What are your thoughts on cellular service in Churchill? We welcome your thoughts.
In a few days, FNA Interpretive Guide Hayley Shephard will begin her solo kayaking adventure around South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness for the plight of the albatross. Her journey is the first ever solo circumnavigation attempt of South Georgia Island. We couldn’t be more proud to support Hayley on this amazing endeavour.
This adventure has been three years in the making. And, it isn’t her first. In the summer of 1999, Hayley embarked on a 2-month expedition around Vancouver Island. This journey took her 67 days and 240 hours of paddling as she covered approximately 1,200 kilometres. That’s over 820,000 paddle strokes!
Hayley departed Victoria, BC today for Ushuaia, Argentina where she will spend a few days before travelling to Grytviken, South Georgia via the Northanger expedition boat. Hayley officially beings her kayaking adventure on February 7, 2010 by heading northwest along the east coast of South Georgia Island. She is scheduled to complete her journey around the Island between March 10-15, 2010.
To follow Hayley in her South Georgia expedition, visit her Kayaking to Save the Albatross website and her Blog where she will have audio broadcast messages throughout her journey!
Good luck Hayley!
Matador Network is one of the world’s largest independent traveller magazines. They recently posted an article that lists our Tundra Buggy Lodge adventure as one of 8 trips for getting close to the world’s deadliest animals. Other trips listed are cage diving for Great White Sharks in South Africa, diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and camping with elephants, leopards and lions in Kenya.
Check out the entire article here!
Photo © earthnative
Before Christmas, we blogged about Andrea, a Frontiers North guest that shared with us her photos of a beautiful gingerbread house she created – complete with polar bears and Tundra Buggy. We have since found out that Andrea has been building these houses for over 27 years, and donates each one to the Concord Free Public Library. Her work is so unique, it was actually featured in the Concord Journal!
Some fun facts: Andrea used 32 double batches of gingerbread in this year’s house and 100 pounds of gingerbread and candy. Yum!
Click here to read the full story from the Concord Journal and view the photo slideshow!
We are very excited that our first adventure of the new year is our beloved Northern Lights & Winter Nights trip to Churchill. Our excitement seems to be rubbing off, as it has been featured in both the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune travel sections over the past week.
The Aurora Borealis is truly awe-inspiring and we can’t wait to host it again at the end of March.
